This is your last chance reminder about the upcoming public seminar to be held next week on November 3. Laura Stack is holding two half-day seminars on Advanced Outlook Tips and Tricks. Outlook 2003 will be covered in the morning, and Outlook 2007 will be in the afternoon. Don’t miss this chance to learn high-level workflow processing with Microsoft Outlook. Sign up today for this valuable Outlook training.
To find details on the seminar, visit us online at http://theproductivitypro.com/s_publicworkshops.htm. The half-day seminar is just $99, or if three or more people from the same office attend it’s just $89 per person. We hope to see you there!
If you are unable to attend the live session in Denver, take a look at our Outlook Virtual Training. We offer ten hours of web based training on Outlook which will make you an Outlook power user!
I just want to say that Laura was terrific, and I thoroughly enjoyed the hour presentation and learned so much! My schedule is so busy, but this was an excellent use of my time, and I know I will put to use many of the tips and tricks I learned today. I had no idea that there was SO MUCH information for Outlook and so many steps that I know will help me save valuable time! – C.L.
Thank you for providing an affordable training session that did not take me away from the office! I sincerely appreciate your effort. – K.E.
These are some of the best (maybe the only) Outlooktraining I have had. I am actually effectively implementing some things. – A.P.
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The Productivity Pro(R), Inc. is delighted to announce that Laura Stack has received the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS) in Outlook 2007 credential. A Microsoft Business Certification shows employers that you have the technical skills to solve real-world problems by using advanced features of Microsoft Office programs. Not only did she pass, but the test administrator remarked that Laura’s test results were the closest to a perfect score she had ever seen on the exam. The Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS) credential is a globally recognized standard that validates skills with using the 2007 Microsoft Office system and meets the demand for the most up-to-date skills on the latest technologies from Microsoft. Candidates who successfully complete the program by passing a certification exam prove that they meet globally recognized performance standards and are able to work productively and efficiently.
NOW you can attend Outlooktraining with Laura Stack from the privacy of your own office! The Productivity Pro(R), Inc. has an online video library available with ten 1-hour modules taught by Laura Stack, each covering a different aspect of Outlook in-depth. Each class is accompanied by a detailed workbook with screenshots and step-by-step instructions. To learn from this NEW MCAS in Outlook, visit http://www.theproductivitypro.com/s_outlook-virtual-training-products.html to receive the passwords.
Our first virtual Microsoft Outlook webinar series was such a huge success that we’re doing it again! The new series begins May 22, 2009 with Microsoft Certified Specialist Laura Stack.
I’m going to present 10 modules covering various aspects of Outlook, step-by-step. This isn’t just computer training. It’s real-world, reality-based workflow processing that helps you actually be MORE productive with Outlook, instead of wasting hours every day playing with it. I will share my desktop and show my computer screen LIVE using my actual Microsoft Outlook software. This is not PowerPoint! It is a real-time demonstration. Even you Outlook experts will be shocked by what you don’t know you don’t know!
Each webinar is very affordable at $39 per person. If you attend all ten, the price is discounted to $349 per person. If for some reason you miss the class—don’t worry—the recording will be sent to you after each session, so you don’t have to attend “live.” You will also receive a workbook to accompany each webinar, with detailed screen shots, so you can duplicate what I do in the seminar.
We are using www.gotowebinar.com that uses either your phone or VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), so you listen right from your own computer speakers via your Internet connection.
1. May 22: Customizing Your Outlook
2. May 27: Inbox/Outbox/Sent Items/Drafts
3. June 3: Tasks
4. June 15: Calendar
5. June 19: Notes and Journal
6. June 23: Contacts
7. June 26: Time Savers
8. July 1: Advanced E-mail Tricks
9. July 7: Email Communication
10. July 10: Workflow
If you want to project the seminar in your conference room, just call us at 303-471-7401 and tell us how many people are attending your meeting, and we’ll manually charge your credit card $39 per person.There are different sessions for 2003 and 2007 users, so please check the times carefully when you register. The 2003 series will be held at 11:00 Pacific/12:00 Mountain/1:00 Central/2:00 eastern. The 2007 series will be held at 1:00 pacific/2:00 mountain/3:00 central/4:00 eastern.
You are welcome to email your specific questions prior to each webinar to Laura@TheProductivityPro.com. We look forward to seeing you online!
Slideshows featuring three of Laura Stack’s published works are featured at Slideshare.net and have received hundreds of views. Get an overview of each of her books with tips from each chapter on how to leave the office earlier, find more time, and beat exhaustion!
Forget multitasking: the real skill you need to compete in the business world and in life is efficiency. The ability to pick up new tricks and hacks quickly but effectively is priceless. This list of 100 awesome cheat sheets can help you to learn and do everything in less time, from working on your blog or designing a web page to losing weight and growing your own herb garden.
Technology has given us so many options when it comes to keeping track of our to-do lists—Smartphones, web-based applications, desktop applications, PDAs—but figuring out the best system for you can be a real challenge (and a frustrating one at that).
Interestingly enough, even with all the technology out there, informal research (mine and others’) still shows that when push comes to shove, most people still fall back on good old-fashioned paper. In fact, a lifehack.org survey shows that not only do most people use a paper to-do list, but that paper is more than twice as popular as any other method listed!
Why is that?
Because we’re human.
Life doesn’t always happen when you’re sitting in front of your computer. We sit in meetings. We leave the office and go home. We travel. And no matter how attached we are to our Treos and Blackberries or how sophisticated the technology becomes, most people simply don’t like making lists or taking notes while squinting at a tiny screen or getting thumb cramps trying to punch in line after line of text.
The bottom line is that handhelds are great for portability and storing reference information, but they’re just not configured for extensive note-taking. That’s why so many handheld users end up being the most disorganized and messy of us all. Without a paper planner, the inevitable to-do lists and reminders end up scattered all over the place on sticky notes and little scraps of paper. Without a “home” for it all, these notes become disorganized, lost, and useless.
So what’s the solution? Let’s look at some of the most popular approaches to organizing your to-do lists (and your life) and see if we can come up with a solution that uniquely suits you.
Paper Planners. Interestingly enough, people who use paper planners exclusively are often the most well organized of us all. Paper planners allow you to have your system available at all time, combine your personal and professional lives, see an instant view of your schedule, and keep manageable to-do lists. In the over 100 training seminars and speeches I give ever year, I’ve met countless numbers of people who tell me how they abandoned their trusty paper systems in search of hip “paperless” PDA methods—just to become so disorganized that they reverted back to paper.
However, for all the advantages, there are challenges with using a paper planner only. With hundreds of contacts, it’s often impractical to keep track of everyone on paper. Other workers in your organization can’t check your calendar for availability if you’re not on the system. Your assistant can’t schedule appointments for you easily without worry of double booking. And you can’t access your email from the road on paper.
Desktop software. Desktop computer software—such as like Outlook, Lotus, and GroupWise—is great. It allows you to manage your contacts, calendar, and to-do lists in one place without having to work with a pocket-sized interface.
In fact, desktop software is absolutely perfect—assuming that you never leave your desk—ever. But you do have to go home. And then when you think of something you need to do at work, you have to make a note. And the scrapping begins. You probably have meetings. If someone says, “Let’s meet again next Thursday. What’s your schedule?” Your very unprofessional response is “Uh, I don’t know. It’s on my calendar back at my desk.” If you appear so out of control, why would anyone trust you with something more important?
Business (and life) has a tendency to happen on its own terms, so it is important to have a system in place for gathering things like notes, appointments, and contact information, at least until you get back to your desk. I always recommend that everyone have some sort of paper system to supplement whatever they are doing electronically. A spiral notebook is disorganized due to the rigid binding: notes, to-do’s, phone numbers, and random information is all mixed together, forcing you to go back and re-read, re-write, and re-organize. You must constantly review old pages to determine what isn’t done. Spiral notebooks become a blur of cross-outs and scribbles due to non-flexibility. That’s why I designed The Productivity Pro® DayTimer® with rings, so the pages could be moved around. You could also print your Outlook calendars and carry them around with you. Or you could sync to a PDA. I personally hate tapping on the screen all the time. Don’t get me wrong—I love my PDA (I use a Mogul by Sprint)—but really only for email, texting, phone calls, and contact management. I prefer to see a big-picture view of my schedule and things to do on my trusty paper system. I just don’t feel creative when I’m not putting pen to paper, and a centralized system beats scraps paper every time!
Web-based applications. As it becomes easier and easier to find an internet connection when you need one, Web-based applications can be a great organizational tool. Whether you use the Web simply to access your calendar or are set up to remotely access your entire PC, it is nice to be able to get what you need from any computer with an internet connection.
Especially if you travel often, using Web-based software comes in handy where traditional desktop software might break down. You don’t need to get to your computer; you just need to get to a computer.
However, Web-based software has the same problem as desktop software—it isn’t always going to be at your fingertips. That’s why, just like with a desktop application, you’ll still need a paper supplement.
Handheld devices. By this I basically mean anything that fits in your pocket—a PDA, Treo, Blackberry, Smartphone, whatever. When handhelds started catching on, many were probably thinking that our organization problems were solved. After all, we could finally have the best of both worlds—technology and portability.
Unfortunately, most of us quickly found that however sophisticated an electronic device could become, they still didn’t quite cut it. The task list isn’t user-friendly. Even if you understand categories well enough and can sort your list, the devices max out at usually 15 categories. And nobody wants to scribble with a stylus or furiously thumb-type their way through a meeting or conversation, and you look like a dork. (I gave myself a painful condition called “Blackberry Thumb” from attempting it.) And even if you do get all of the information entered properly, tiny navigation screens and tinier font sizes just don’t quite cut it.
Handheld devices are great when you need to enter a new contact’s information on the fly or check to see if your schedule is open two Thursday’s from now, but they still can’t do the job of simple pen and paper when it comes to writing notes and creating lists.
The Solution—a Hybrid method! It’s getting harder and harder to find people that don’t use some form of electronic organizing tool, but even the most tech-savvy tend to fall back on paper for some tasks. If you’re listening to a voice mail on your phone, what are you doing? Writing down the message. Bingo. You need a paper planner. When you’re talking to the Hertz customer service agent on the phone, and he asks for your Gold number, what are you doing? Trying not to hang up on the person while you mumble, “Uh, hang on, it’s in my…phone.” Bingo. You need a paper planner. You’re sitting in a meeting talking with your biggest client. What are you doing? Typing notes with your thumbs while attempting to listen? I doubt it. Again…you need a paper planner…one place that will consolidate your lists, reference information, and notes.
I became so frustrated watching people struggle with finding an effective way to use their hand-held organizers in the real world that I teamed up with Day-Timers, Inc. to create a paper system that is specifically designed for users of hand-held organizers (although it works just as well for those without handhelds).
The Productivity Pro® DayTimer® planner has monthly calendar tabs but no time slots on the daily pages (you probably keep that sort of information on your computer or handheld). This gives you a large, easy-to-manage writing space for your notes, lists, and those pesky to-dos that always seem to be slipping through the cracks otherwise. (Visit www.daytimer.com/productivity to check out the planner.) It also has tools to help with things like long-range planning and ongoing lists—things that don’t always have an intuitive home within electronic organizers. If you’re more curious exactly how it works, get a sneak peak of the planner directions and features and benefits. It allows instantly-accessible paper that allows you to follow my mantra: if you think it, ink it! ™
Beginning May 10, there will be a 20% coupon off the purchase of a bundle: my smooth black Nappa leather binder, storage case, and one-year of neutral, dated pages and inserts (start date July 2008) at www.daytimer.com/laurastack (click “Laura’s products”). Guys, don’t worry—no frills—I designed this with you in mind. Hopefully this will help you create a time management system that exactly meets your needs. I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Find a system that works for YOU! Create a completely personalized planning style.
How do you make the best use of paper and electronic planning methods? The simple answer is “it depends.” How do you describe yourself? What are your preferences? What does your work require of you? What are your work and home environments? Do you travel? This webinar will discuss the fundamentals of an organized, effective time management system and help you design one that perfectly meets your needs.
Objectives:
Understand the advantages and disadvantages of handhelds and paper
Identify what frustrates you about your current system
Test to see if you’re more inclined to plan on paper or electronically
Evaluate your time management methods against key effectiveness criteria
Learn the essential ingredients in an effective time management system
Design a system that works most effectively with your personality and work situation
Create an action plan to implement the changes you need to be more organized
I look forward to seeing you there! Register today, as the last one sold out in a few days.
I’m going to present ten modules covering various aspects of Outlook step-by-step. This isn’t just computer training. It’s real-world, reality-based workflow processing that helps you actually be MORE productive with Outlook, instead of wasting hours every day playing with it. I estimate most people know 10-20% of the capacities of Outlook. Even if you think you’re an “expert,” you’ll be shocked by what you don’t know you don’t know.
I’m making each one-hour webinar very affordable at $39 per person. If you attend all ten, the price is discounted to $349 per person. If for some reason you miss the class, don’t worry. The recording will be available for two weeks after the session, and each person will receive a detailed PDF workbook to accompany each webinar, with detailed screen shots, so you can duplicate what I do in the seminar.
NOTE: This is a one-person license, so you can’t have someone watch over your shoulder or forward the URL to others. If you want to project the seminar in your conference room, just call us at 303-471-7401 and tell us how many people are attending, and we’ll manually charge your credit card $39 per person. We use the honor system—only you will know if you cheat.
There is nothing to download. As long as you have access to the Internet and sound from your speakers, you can attend. You don’t dial in via phone, as this platform features VOIP (voice over internet protocol), and you listen right from your own computer. I DO recommend you purchase an inexpensive USB headset (such as the Logitech ClearChat Comfort for around $40) that plugs right into your USB and offers great sound quality and privacy from your office neighbors.
TIMES
I will offer different sessions for 2003 and 2007 users, so make sure to sign up for the right seminar. The 2003 series will be held at 11:00 Pacific/12:00 Mountain/1:00 Central/2:00 eastern. The 2007 series will be held at 1:00 pacific/2:00 mountain/3:00 central/4:00 eastern.
